Editorial comment: Matteo Martini rightly draws a connection between Viktor Orban’s recent political defeat in the Hungarian elections and the growing public outrage over Orban’s unconditional support for Netanyahu, amid the Israeli genocide in Gaza—which not only continues today, but has also spread to entire regions of Syria and Lebanon, not to mention the hysteria surrounding the American-Israeli carnage in Iran.
There is no doubt that European leaders, as well as others such as Narendra Modi, will one day have to answer for their complacency in the face of this neo-imperialism, as well as their cynicism in the face of so much human suffering.
This question is all the more crucial given that, since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Viktor Orban has been one of the few European voices advocating a policy of good neighborliness toward Russia. While writing our article Washington Warns Beijing and Its Partners: “The Bomb Will Not Save Multipolarity”, in which we highlighted the MAGA team’s support for ultra-conservative and ultra-nationalist movements in Europe, one thought kept nagging at us: Why did Trump’s United States rely on the European far right to initiate talks with Russia, when we had just witnessed a shift among European far-right movements in favor of Zionist colonialism—much like nearly all traditional political parties— and even as Moscow had repeatedly hammered home that one of the main objectives of its Special Military Operation was the denazification of Ukraine?
These are all questions we must keep in mind to understand the geopolitical developments of our time, but also to prepare ourselves to answer them one day.
Lama El Horr
Orban’s defeat prompts a reflection that political observers—especially those on the right—should begin to ponder: the importance of the Palestinian issue in European public opinion, especially among young people. In Italy, I believe many people are unaware of the extent of this sentiment, partly because support for the Palestinian struggle is easily numbed and attributed to an Italian ideological polarization that makes right-wing audiences perceive any anti-colonial struggle as “anti-Western” and “nonsense.” This obviously leads to various biases and evidently underestimates important political trends.
Orban’s defeat is not a pro-European vote, nor was it strictly speaking a “leftist” one (his challenger, a conservative, came from his own party). The key issues in his defeat are primarily two: the issue of objective corruption, with several of his ministers affected by scandals (and let’s put aside the ulterior motive of a “rigged” judiciary: when you govern for four consecutive terms, you become corrupt; it’s a natural consequence that determines the cycles of government); The second issue concerns the unpopularity of Orban’s foreign policy, his historic closeness to the Jewish Lykud, and the rhetoric of “Judeo-Christian civilization” as the foundation of our identity—a contrived idea born of a particular cultural engineering that Nouvelle Droite authors like Alain De Benoist have rightly denounced for decades. Incidentally, all European right-wing parties have been shaped by this rhetoric (remember the “Fiuggi turn”? Now we know what it was for). It is therefore a phenomenon of continental significance that will also merit consideration for Meloni’s Italian case—a topic we will have occasion to return to.
As long as this rhetoric remained on paper—or simply served as a banner in the fight against immigration—its critical aspects, its dark side, and its full purpose remained latent. However, when, after the events of October 7, 2023, the Palestinian question exploded again, forcefully resurfacing in history, everyone had to take a stance.
Orban has always assured his full support for the criminal Netanyahu and his government. Another significant factor is Trump’s closeness and Vance’s recent blessing during his campaign visit. All this occurred while thousands of young people were demonstrating against the genocide of the Palestinian people.
This phenomenon has been underestimated in electoral terms, probably by underestimating the numbers (the usual Christian Democrat slogan of full streets and empty ballot boxes), and by counting on it not translating into a vote. Both calculations were wrong. One might also think that young people are demonstrating in favor of the Palestinian issue because they are “paid” by the mythical “Soros.” The fact is that—despite all attempts to undermine this cause—a strong network of solidarity on the issue has been created, and this will influence the electoral flow. In truth, I would tend to think that even the outcome of the referendum on the judiciary in Italy, a vote highly politicized by Meloni herself, was more a vote on the government’s general policy and especially on international politics, much more than on the specific issue of the question, and perhaps also a vote on the economic situation.
And that the Hungarian vote is closely tied to the Palestinian issue is corroborated by one fact: the youth element. These elections saw a sharp increase in voter turnout, essentially a rise in young voters. And it was precisely the younger generations who filled the streets with demonstrations against Israel in Hungary over the past two years. Therefore, the election effectively tapped into a trend within Hungarian society that should not be underestimated.
Those who continue to underestimate the ideological and emotional significance of this support for the Palestinian cause are mistaken. Moreover, combined with the general unpopularity of Israel’s policies, it is fueling strong dissent in European society, which, perhaps thanks to the media apparatus, is underperceived in terms of its numbers and significance. I would readily suggest that this sentiment could, by analogy, achieve the same importance in public opinion as the movement against the US war in Vietnam, a factor that ultimately marked the defeat of the United States itself, no less than its attrition on the ground.
We are only at the beginning, and right-wing parties in Europe should begin to take stock.
